iOS 14 leaks hint at new notification triggers, AR mode for Find My

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Find My Friends
Find My could be better than ever in iOS 14.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Fresh iOS 14 leaks that surfaced on Monday reveal Apple’s plans to bring new notification triggers and an augmented reality mode to the Find My app.

The improvements could give users the ability to get an alert when a contact doesn’t arrive at a specific location by a certain time. They could also make it easier to track down lost Macs and iOS devices.

The Find My app already providers users with a notification when a contact arrives at a certain location. It’s great for making sure kids get to school safely. If you don’t get that alert, however, you’re left to wonder what happened.

Did the kids not get to school, or did the Find My app just fail to recognize it? Questions like that could be easier to answer in iOS 14, thanks to some new notification triggers.

Find My improvements coming in iOS 14

It could soon be possible to get a notification when a contact doesn’t arrive at a specified location by a certain time, reports 9to5Mac. Or when a contact leaves a location before they are scheduled to.

This will make it easier for parents to find out if their child didn’t turn up for school, or if they left earlier than they were supposed. The same benefits will obviously extend to spouses who share their location.

“Find My will also let users create these notifications to alert contacts based on their own location, and new location alerts can be customized to specific days of the week,” the report adds.

AR could make it easier to find lost devices

Leaked iOS 14 code also suggests there will be new augmented reality features for Find My, which could make it easier to locate lost devices. For instance, AR could identify where in a building (or a virtual version of it) a device is.

This could be handy for devices that are lost or mislaid in large buildings. Rather than getting just an address, it might be possible to see where in that building, including on which floor, a device is reporting from.

These leaks come from iOS 14 code that has made its way into the wild, so they’re a little more concrete than your average whispers. However, it should be noted that Apple’s plans could change before iOS 14 makes its public debut.

Bear that in mind, then, before you get too excited about an iOS 14 feature that has leaked out early.

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